City to Country Journey

Feeding Dairy Goats From Forage Only

2011-09-23T01:20:00.003-05:00

As we continue in our journey of learning about farming and ranching we realize that conventional ways of raising animals may not be the best path for us in some cases. In our situation it is our intent to not only raise animals for our family to consume either the animal or the products of the animal (eggs, milk, etc) but do it in the most sustainable way. For example most people raise diary

Gravity Fed Bell Waterer for Poultry

2011-08-16T22:49:00.004-05:00

If you have chickens and want the ability to provide clean water on a consistent basis this is your lucky day. For a quick background we have ~20 acres and do rotational grazing for poultry, goats and sheep and do not run electric or water out to their location. We have been using the 5 gallon waterers from TSC however they tend to suck nasty water back into the reservoir when filling. Even

You know it is summer in Texas when.....

2010-07-17T08:29:00.000-05:00

* The birds have to use potholders to pull worms out of the ground.* The trees are whistling for the dogs.* The best parking place is determined by shade instead of distance.* Hot water now comes out of both taps.* You can make sun tea instantly.* You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.* The temperature drops below 95, and you feel a little chilly.* You discover that

Mahatma Gandhi Wisdom

2010-05-12T10:11:00.000-05:00

There is more to improving life than increasing its speedMahatma Gandhi

Identifying Different Oil Pans

2010-04-13T07:49:00.002-05:00

This has nothing to do with my normal blog content however due to the important nature of the content to the blog author a copy of the material is being kept here in case the thread pics become unavailable.Good day.Left -> Right: TH700-R4, the TH200-4R, the TH400 and the TH3501 Aluminum Powerglide 14 bolts2 TH200 Metric 11 bolts3 TH350 13 bolts4 TH400 13 bolts5 TH200-4R 16 bolts6 TH700-R4, 4L60,

Egg Cartons

2010-03-29T17:25:00.007-05:00

As our egg production has increased we have had a need to sell of some of the extras. After checking our state laws (YMMV) we determined that we needed new cartons with our farm name and address stamped on them. One of the most recommended places for purchasing them is eggcartons.com and after some research we would concur that with shipping their pricing is decent. Below are a few comparisons to

Green Shoots Everywhere

2010-03-03T10:38:00.002-06:00

Don't be naive! Educate yourself and start growing your own food and pay off your debts or have enough savings to support yourself well into the future.

DEA Agent vs Texas Farmer

2010-02-26T01:00:00.001-06:00

A DEA agent stops at a ranch in Texas, and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs."The rancher says, "Okay, but do not go in that field over there," as he points out the location.The DEA officer verbally explodes, saying, "Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me." Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he

By Tozer

2010-02-17T00:40:00.000-06:00

A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.

Operation Diapered Thunder

2010-01-29T17:15:00.004-06:00

Since we wanted to keep the new goat kid, Thunder, in the house during this cold and wet weather we went looking for a solution. We do not have a barn or a decent housing solution for our goats currently and to optimize his first few days of growth and to help him build a strong body we wanted to keep him inside our home and let him roam free during parts of the day. Solution: Goat Diapers! The

Another Kid!

2010-01-28T12:49:00.003-06:00

During the evening or the early morning one of our pregnant does gave birth to a new baby boy. Due to our recent weather we named him Thunder.

Jaundice in Newborns

2010-01-13T13:44:00.003-06:00

Recently I have a brother who had their first baby born. After a few weeks the baby had continued problems with jaundice and after some tests it appears the baby may have Biliary Atresia. This post is here to help others out there searching about extended jaundice and to not take it lightly. Although the disease is very rare (1 in 10000 newborns) it is fatal if not caught. The chances of the

Jesus Is Watching You

2010-01-06T04:50:00.001-06:00

A burglar broke into a house one night. He shined his flashlight around, looking for valuables when a voice in the dark said,'Jesus knows you're here.'He nearly jumped out of his skin, clicked his flashlight off, and froze.When he heard nothing more , after a bit, he shook his head and continued.Just as he pulled the stereo out so he could disconnect the wires, clear as a bell he

How Does Rural America Measure Up?

2009-12-07T08:29:00.002-06:00

As the quote and link below indicate the researchers were surprised, they must have been overwhelmed by their own vast conventional education. People in rural America have been making due with far less than their urban counterparts since urban became a word. For many people "rural" is synonymous with low incomes, limited economic opportunity, and poor schools. However, a recent study found that

Sign of Things To Come?

2009-12-07T08:18:00.002-06:00

Many people indicate the what happens in Europe in an indication what will be come to the U.S. in a generation. The exception I would make for the below linked article is that instead of the European Union we will continue down the path of the North American Union until we are full fledged members.At midnight last night, the United Kingdom ceased to be a sovereign state

Slow Down or Stop

2009-10-10T07:49:00.002-05:00

Texas Sheriff vs New York LawyerA lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a sheriff's deputy.He thinks that he is smarter than the deputy because he is a lawyer from New Yorkand is certain that he has a better education then any cop from Houston , TX .He decides to prove this to himself and have some fun at the Texas deputy's expense.The deputy says, "License and registration, please..""

Drilling a Water Well Cheap

2009-08-21T07:50:00.001-05:00

If you are a DIY type here is a good idea for drilling your own water well. Our water table it too deep here but I would try this in short order if we lived somewhere that had water closer to the surface.An Inexpensive, Do-It-Yourself Water Well

Got Goat?

2009-08-12T22:23:00.002-05:00

One of our goats demonstrating their constant curiosity.

When Goats Eat What They Shouldn't

2009-08-02T18:33:00.005-05:00

Got this recipe from this post over at The Self-Sufficient Life."I Really Shouldn't Have Ate That!" For goats1/2 Cup Veggie Oil1/2 Cup Very Strong Black Tea1 Tsp. Ginger1 Tsp. Baking Soda* Drench goat with mixture one time. Watch goat. If goat is no better, drench again the following day. You will not want to use this too much...and you will want to use a mineral/vitamin drench while they are not

What To Plant Now

2009-07-30T22:25:00.003-05:00

If you are trying to figure out what to plan this month. Month in the generic sense of March or April or May or June or July or August or September, not the month as in the month of this post then go no further than this little helper from Mother Earth News.What to Plan Now (by Region)

Learning About Farming - Internships

2009-07-18T22:14:00.003-05:00

If you would like to learn about sustainable farming through an internship program check out the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service Internship website. This is one of those times when I wishes that we could afford for me not to work so I could do this for a summer. Unfortunately that is one of the sacrifices being the sole income earning for the family.Go sustainable agriculture!

Feed Mill Pictures

2009-07-14T14:30:00.001-05:00

As promised in the post, Saving Money on Feed, here is a slide show of the old feed mill.

First Chickens Hatched The Old Way Update 1

2009-07-13T22:38:00.002-05:00

If you have not read the previous post, First Chickens Hatched The Old Way, read it first...it is okay I can wait.We moved the hen and her 3 chicks out to the coop with our younger hens. For a short background we currently have two coops with approx 40 chickens each. One coop has chickens that are approx. a year old and the other has hens that are between 3-4 months old. Back to the story, so

Clean Water

2009-07-07T22:06:00.002-05:00

Next to air the most important thing for our bodies is water. In today's world trusting the water that comes directly out of your well or rural/city water supply is dangerous. It can be fine one day and needs to be boiled the next. We use a Royal Berkey however there are even cheaper solutions that can cut those costs even more.Here is a DIY Water Filter that uses the Berkey Black Elements

Rehydration Recipe for Chickens

2009-06-22T23:15:00.007-05:00

If you cannot locate electrolytes or rehydrating solutions for chickens at your local feed store and are in a bad bind needing it now (like injuries or extreme heat) here is a home made recipe that is simple. It does not replenish everything a properly balanced solution like Durvet Vitamins and Electrolytes but it will cover in a pinch.1 cup water2 tsp sugar1/8 tsp salt1/8 tsp baking sodaRemember

First Chickens Hatched The Old Way

2009-06-21T23:24:00.007-05:00

For a little background a few of our evolving principles for developing our property are:- Do things the way that is the most effective and closest to nature as possible.- Keep it sustainableAs part of that process we have been closely watching our hens for the one or two that demonstrate the most broody behavior and it appears one of our banties is the clear winner. She has been trying to be

Getting Started with Goats

2009-06-21T21:27:00.008-05:00

Here are some things that we think are essential for having dairy goats. This list is not all inclusive however it is a good start and covers what we consider the essentials. This list does not include first aid supplies however we will cover that at a later date.Fencing - If you throw a bucket of water at the fence and it any water makes it through, fortify!Milk Stand - There are a variety of

Homegrown Revolution

2009-06-18T09:52:00.005-05:00

Having checked in on the Path To Freedom website occasionally for the last couple of years it is impressive. 6,000 pounds of fruits and veggies per year on a 1/10 of an acre! Our family has sooooo far to go. Here is a movie which is a short introduction to their homestead. Below is a 10 minute clip but the entire movie is only 15 minutes.Favorite Quote: Don't look for others to change, you start

Saving Money on Feed

2009-06-18T01:00:00.005-05:00

If you are buying more than one bag of feed at a time one place to seriously consider that is horrible at advertising itself is a local feed mill. We found out from a new acquaintance about a place that sells un-medicated feed and when we got there we could not believe their prices. We have always considered TSC reasonable but this place was cheap. The layer crumbles and rolled oats were between

Busy with Animals

2009-06-18T00:37:00.009-05:00

Things have been so buy with work and the animals updates have not been coming often so here is our current inventory.Approx. 80 chickens: 40 or so we have had for over a year and the other 40 we have acquired in the last few months. Some were ordered from Cackle Hatchery and others we 'egg returns' from a class project a friend of a friend did at school. They high an extremely high hatch rate

An Old Farmers Advice

2009-05-21T17:21:00.001-05:00

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight and bull-strong.*Keep skunks and bankers at a distance. *Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor. * Words that soak into your ears are whispered...not yelled. * Meanness don't jes' happen overnight. * Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.* Do not corner something that

Farming in Romania

2009-05-05T09:11:00.001-05:00

When doing some research on processing sheep I stumbled across this website. It is apparently a photographer that went to take pictures of the farmers of Romania while out and about doing their travels.http://www.leafpile.com/TravelLog/Romania/Farming/Farming.htm

Swine Flu Anyone? Bueller?

2009-04-27T01:33:00.002-05:00

If this turns out to be true, whoa boy. You would hope at least 2 people would get a clue and start buying locally.http://www.grist.org/article/2009-04-25-swine-flu-smithfield/

Monsanto - Friend or Foe of Rural America

2009-02-05T19:22:00.005-06:00

Unless you are a cool aide drinking member of everything the MSM passes your direction or are new to rural life you might have missed that Monsanto has been continuing to use their significant financial resources to crush American food freedom. One of the most shocking pieces of the Monsanto puzzle is there are people in smaller towns unaware of this. To help you in your journey to build more and

Buy Trees In Bulk - CHEAP

2009-01-19T22:36:00.002-06:00

If you don't mind buying 1 year old trees and like to buy them extremely cheap then this is your post. We found out from a new friend that owns a Christmas Tree Farm that we could buy them through him using his supplier.We got approx. 600 pine trees about 24 inches long from tap room to tip for ~$60. He said they have ones you can buy that are older and obviously cost more and he is also going to

Contaminated Milk

2009-01-01T20:49:00.003-06:00

Remember this next time you think about starting to raise more of your own food but keep procrastinating.Former chairwoman and general manager of Sanlu Group testified in court on Wednesday that she knew in May that her dairy firm's products were contaminated but notified the authorities only in August.source: Sanlu ex-boss was aware of tainted milk

Poulty Plans for Coops, Nesting Boxes ...

2008-12-28T17:49:00.002-06:00

Recently I discovered this website by the North Dakota State University Extension Office which has PDFs for Chicken & Turkey Coops, Feed Racks and the list goes on.Enjoy.

Debunking Agrarianism

2008-12-27T15:01:00.003-06:00

Franklin Sanders' has created another wonderful article with The Leaven Community & The Agrarian Ideal: Debunking Agrarianism. It is an easy read and from our short few years in the country covers things well.

The Cows & The Dogs

2008-09-06T17:02:00.002-05:00

Here's a short email my wife sent about some of our neighbor's cows getting on our property.cows on the property, dogs chases cows, cows chase dogs, cows kick at dogs, cows finally leave, dogs are fine

A Child's Perspective on Poverty

2008-09-06T17:00:00.000-05:00

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live.They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, 'How was the trip?''It was great, Dad.''Did you see how poor people live?' the father asked.'Oh

Country Boy Can Survive

2008-07-14T15:57:00.000-05:00

The preacher man says it’s the end of timeAnd the Mississippi River she’s a goin’ dryThe interest is up and the Stock Markets downAnd you only get muggedIf you go down townI live back in the woods, you seeA woman and the kids, and the dogs and meI got a shotgun rifle and a 4-wheel driveAnd a country boy can surviveCountry folks can surviveI can plow a field all day longI can catch catfish from

Keyhole Garden

2008-07-12T23:03:00.003-05:00

For those of you who live in less than favorable areas for having a garden bed or are disabled and it is hard for you to bend down and work on your garden here is one option.Intro Video About Keyhole Gardenshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjcjCCx3BWYBuild A Keyhole Garden Websitehttp://www.sendacow.org.uk/schools.asp?active_page_id=272

Small Town Entertainment Expenses

2008-07-07T14:48:00.005-05:00

Here's one that blew my mind today. Keep in mind we haven't been to a movie theater in about 2 years. There is a small town (< 10K) approximately 15 minutes from our new property with a small 6 screen theater. Since the kids are out of town we decided to go early in the heat of the day, why burn your flesh off your bones in the middle of the day. Here is a cost breakdown:$3/person$3 Large Coke$3

When Animals Attack [Update]

2008-07-02T11:06:00.003-05:00

A quick update on the animal issues. We've fortified our hoop house and moved it out into an open area with no trees within an ~60 foot distance. We've had zero issues which is probably a reflection of moving it more into the open and the significant fortification we did on the hoop house.On a related note the chicken that had the wing tore off is doing nicely. He had a small leftover bone

Gas Prices

2008-07-02T07:21:00.002-05:00

Agrarian Vision

2008-06-27T23:45:00.002-05:00

This was an interesting statement that summed up the agrarian vision and I thought was well said.Agrarianism seeks a broad Jeffersonian-Distributist and familistic ownership of all landed property, Political Decentralisation of Modern Leviathan super-states, and a responsible Localialism which takes seriously it’s duty to be careful and responsible Stewards of Creation.From the Agrarian

When Animals Attack

2008-05-29T08:54:00.006-05:00

Approximately a month ago we bought 13 chicks and moved them out to our new hoop house last week. We found out last night we had a few weak spots that an industrious raccoon exploited last night and dispatched with 9 of the 13. One of the remaining had his wing tore off so we'll see if he/she makes it or not but have separated the injured one from the remaining chicks to aid in its recovery. The

Gardening When It Counts

2008-05-28T08:36:00.004-05:00

Gardening When It Counts: Growing Food in Hard Times is an interesting book that runs contrary to many of the gardening and composting books on the market. Steve Solomon's background puts him in the interesting position of understanding both sides of many of the gardening world, not just through research but actually doing it. The subtitle of the book is, "Growing Food in Hard Times" and in my

Diatomaceous Earth (DE)

2008-05-28T07:13:00.004-05:00

Recently a conversation came up in a poultry forum about using DE in chicken feed and why some was okay for consumption and others has the usual 'dangerous to animals' disclaimer. Here is an interesting article posted by a company the 'manufactures' DE and why some is considered a dangerous insecticide and others is not. I've posted the part specific to the categorization as an insecticide

Bragging - Great Wife

2008-04-22T14:18:00.003-05:00

This post is only intended to serve one purpose, to brag on my wonderful bride. We've been married almost 17 years and this latest move has by far been the roughest one. We moved 10 days ago and our property currently does not have water or septic so during the day my family is relegated to using water bottles and a simple composting toilet and my wife has been doing it without complaint. Since

Electric Service

2008-04-02T10:40:00.008-05:00

As we've made the move to our property there are a few items that I'll be blogging about to hopefully save everyone else time, headaches and money. These items were not provided in one place so unfortunately it ended up costing us significant money (in the thousands) and probably over 50-100 extra hours of driving, calling and doing additional work. Each state, county and utility is different but

Farming Benefits

2008-02-23T00:36:00.004-06:00

Was doing reading recently about agrarianism and stumbled across one of those 'duh' statements but for some reason it seemed more profound than I normally would have thought. The same principle also applies to being self employed in many cases so do with the quote what you will :)A farmer does not sell his labor but the fruits of his labor, and as such is able to retain many of the benefits of

Texas Veterans Land Board (TVLB) Program

2007-10-10T16:35:00.000-05:00

This post is to help individuals considering using the TVLB for purchasing their rural property. To give a little background our journey started with wanting to buy some property for our primary residence. We were looking at 15+ acres in most cases and finding a company to finance that amount of property is difficult. We have decent credit (750+ FICO without any derogs) and our biggest limitation

How To Build Your Own Home

2007-08-22T14:53:00.000-05:00

My wife and I have been discussing for awhile the benefit of building our own home. Since a home purchase is one of the largest purchases you'll ever make saving money on the cost of building a home can have significant financial rewards in the future. We will be closing on our acreage soon and have been looking for a temporary structure while we build the home we've been wanting.In the quest on

Home Based Business

2007-06-20T23:14:00.000-05:00

Being a work-at-home Dad for over 3 years has brought an interesting perspective to my life. Without going into too much detail it has caused me to rethink many of the things I took for granted before: job aspirations, employment, seeking out the best career/job, commuting and the list goes on. These are just the job side of the equation and I'm not including the personal though process that has

Hatcheries

2007-06-20T22:55:00.001-05:00

If you're looking for a place to buy newborn chickens I'd recommend you take some time to visit Ideal Poultry. Where we live in Texas it is a short enough drive where we can visit and be home in time for dinner. They've been in business since 1937 and are located in Cameron, Texas. There are a few other hatcheries out there that do a decent job however they're local and have a good reputation.If

Permit 'Light' Property

2007-06-14T00:41:00.000-05:00

As I've covered in some of my previous posts there can be quite a few gotchas when looking for land and a lot of due diligence is required. The flip side is that if your land exists in the 'right' county you can have a lot of flexibility with it once purchasing. For example the county where we're looking at buying land currently doesn't require any building permits, the only requirement when

Stop Thief! - Part II

2007-06-14T00:32:00.000-05:00

We've been busy with a few things so I didn't have an opportunity to post that two days after the initial theft the thieves decided they needed to get them all and came back and cleaned us out. We are now chickenless but we are planning on building our hen/rooster population back up. No matter where you live people exist which feel they're entitled to something that is not theirs. We have put the

Stop Thief!

2007-06-07T13:42:00.000-05:00

As we all know there are people everywhere who feel they are entitled to what is not theirs. In our case it happened late last night when someone stole half of our small 'flock' of chickens. They got over our fence, into the coop and got 9 of them without alerting our dog in the house. Since our coop is about 50 yards from the house and the door faces the far side of the coop it isn't surprising

Tools and Their Real Uses

2007-05-31T09:57:00.000-05:00

DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly-stained heirloom piece you were drying.WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and

Honey Bee Population Problems

2007-05-18T23:54:00.000-05:00

In case you are new to this stuff there is a serious problem with the current honey bee population around the world. There has been a drastic reduction in bees and some bees fly away never to return to their hives. This has occurred in the past however there will be a significant impact to crop production if this lasts for long. You are intelligent and can obviously search the web so read a few

Making Money with Poultry

2007-05-02T14:22:00.001-05:00

If you're a struggling chicken rancher then I'd recommend you pick up a copy of Pastured Poultry Profits by Joel Salatin. The book covers a lot of bases with raising chickens for profit but also has some discussions related to keeping it small enough to have a great product but also have some decent net profit to keep yourself in the black. He seems to have a decent grasp of the general market

Chicken Predators

2007-05-02T13:24:00.000-05:00

It has been awhile since my last post so I'm going to try to break them up and get caught up....we'll see how that goes.We had our first chicken get killed by a predator in mid-April, it was one of those rare times when we were gone all day but left the chickens out and when we came back there were feathers everywhere and a decapitated and partially munched chicken. We're not sure of the predator

Farmers at Risk

2007-04-15T22:38:00.000-05:00

If you haven't been paying attention to what is happening to the farmers across American, you should.There are so many issues coming up that addressing it in one post would border on lunacy. The thing to keep in mind is that farmers are being pushed to the brink by the companies that many people think we should support. To give just one example of a company that is doing it's best to blackmail

Building Chicken Coops & Brooders

2007-04-04T22:29:00.000-05:00

If you're like me you want to make sure your chickens get the best brooder and/or coop for the best price. The challenge is finding the best information that meets your needs. The more I interact with farmer/rancher types I discover that many have a unique approach but it comes down to making due with what is in front of you instead of using some cookie cutter approach. I'll try to keep adding to

3 More Pullets Died Today

2007-04-04T08:27:00.000-05:00

Well it appears that the learning process continues, unfortunately at the cost of more baby chicks lives. The chickens at our place are probably starting to feel like they're marked...much like the chicken on the left. We had been doing everything we'd read about with the pullets and they are now outside confined inside the coop that the normal chickens live in at night so they can start seeing

Take Me Out of the City, Get Me Out of the Crowds

2007-03-21T23:50:00.000-05:00

The title of this post was intended to be hummed with the Take Me Out to the Ball Game song. My wife and I were recently discussing the joys of being outside of town on property. We don't even have much in the way of acreage (renting on 5 acres) but man how we loath when we have to go to a major city to do our bulk shopping, doctor's appointments, etc.It is a weird transition but the more I'm

Profit From Your Land

2007-03-20T22:45:00.000-05:00

The more research I do the more I discover how many hard working people there are out there trying to make it in farming and/or ranching. It is truly staggering when you look at the amount of work these people do for the return on their 'investment.' They are obviously doing it because they love it however it sure would be nice to see them doing better instead of having a lot of struggles. One of

Making Money Shearing Sheep

2007-03-18T05:43:00.000-05:00

As we are researching our sheep more and the ongoing quest to find a breeder in our area that raises their sheep the same we we're going to raise ours I've come across something that some people promote as a great way to generate side income, shearing sheep. After more research we realized this is something we do not want to have to do so we're picking sheep that don't require shearing.Let me

Survival...Nope, Just Old School

2007-03-14T22:03:00.000-05:00

An interesting thing has been developing the longer we search for rural land and prepare our family for the 'migration', it seems that having a little backup of daily items becomes more necessary the further out you are. When doing some research on something I can't recall I stumbled across the Alone in the Wilderness 2-DVD Package. After doing some more reading about it I realized that this was

Farm and Ranch Land: Rain, Sleet, Snow or Shine

2007-03-12T00:12:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't read Finding & Buying Your Place in Country I'll pass along a little freebie, don't just buy a piece of property in an area you're unfamiliar with unless you've done a lot of research and/or interviews with people from that area (that aren't trying to profit from their advice to you). In our ongoing quest to find the Texas land that will meet all of our requirements we've

Travis' Appeal for Aid at the Alamo

2007-03-11T00:01:00.000-06:00

This one is totally off topic but after reading it I wanted to pass it along for those of you who have never read it.Commandancy of the AlamoBexar, Fby. 24th, 1836To the People of Texas & all Americans in the world Fellow Citizens & CompatriotsI am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a

Rural High Speed Internet

2007-03-08T22:59:00.000-06:00

In the country getting a high speed internet connection becomes more of a challenge. Depending on the internet requirements sometimes searching for property can be dictated by the accessibility of high speed. In my case I cannot use satellite high speed due to latency issues and connecting to a VPN but if I didn't need to worry about latency my options would open up.One thing to keep in mind when

Moving from the City to the Country [A PreTeen Perspective]

2007-03-08T21:31:00.000-06:00

This was written by our 12 year old daughter since we asked for an entry from a younger person's perspective.Moving from the city to the country has its ups and downs, but the ups outweigh the downs in my opinion. When we were living in the city it wasn't bad. We had a 3 bedroom/2 bath house with a medium yard. I liked it but I longed for more yard space. I'm an explorer at heart so I alwways

Free Range or Prairie or Coop Raised Poultry

2007-03-07T08:25:00.000-06:00

When doing some research I stumbled across an article on Mother Earth News that reminded me I should probably do an introductory post about how you decide to raise your chickens. There is much discussion about raising chickens in a coop or letting them graze on your property (a.k.a. free range or prairie grazing).From what I've been able to gather some people feel that having them in the coop

Rural Farm Land For Sale - The Twilight Zone

2007-03-06T23:20:00.000-06:00

As we continue our search for land we've come across a few truths related to advertisements for rural property, so when you see the following: Rural Property For Sale, Land For Sale, Land For Sale By Owner, Farm Land, Raw Land, etc. keep in mind you might be stepping into.....The Twilight Zone.There seems to be a general impression that if you don't disclose certain things in the MLS listing that

Free Range (a.k.a. Pasture Raised) Eggs vs Store Bought

2007-03-06T23:17:00.000-06:00

To do a brain dump of everything we've been learning about raising our own animals and the health benefits of the food that we generate would fill the disk on this server. Here is just another example of the information that we're coming across that supports our decision to raise our own animals. We got our first batch of chickens and should start getting eggs in the next few months...we can't

Chicken Feed

2007-03-01T22:07:00.000-06:00

When we first bought our chickens we were told the previous owner had been raising them on crumbles. We didn't go too much into details so I'm not sure which brand they used but we ended up stopping by the local feed store and picking up Purina Mills® Flock Raiser® which seemed to work fine. We know our long term goal was to have most of their feed provided by nature so it was just a matter of

Where There Is No Doctor

2007-03-01T16:40:00.001-06:00

One of the things to keep in mind in a rural setting and personally I don't think is anything to be in fear of is access to health care. Our family has been re-evaluating health care and our health/wellness approach in general but I thought I'd offer up a great book called Where There Is No Doctor: A Village Health Care Handbook.The book discussed previously will lay out some of the general

Finding and Buying Your Place in the Country

2007-02-27T22:40:00.001-06:00

As mentioned before I'd touch on all facets of migrating to a rural setting but this book is so well done I thought I'd put it out there first. I'm sure I'll be rehashing things already discussed in the book as we move along but if you're only going to read one book related to buying property in the country make Finding & Buying Your Place in Countryby Scher. The book can either be a reference

Employee or Entrepreneur Mindset

2007-02-26T10:37:00.000-06:00

When writing the Try Before You Buy post I realized that one item I didn't discuss in detail was what your business/income mindset is. Are you a person who enjoys the day-to-day consistency of going to an office or are you more of a dynamic entrepreneur type who prefers varied hours, seasons of longer work and a little more varied income possibilities?If you're more of the type of person who

Selecting the Right Breed of Chicken

2007-02-25T23:43:00.000-06:00

Since we're somewhat new to this those of you who are pros with chickens will probably say, well yea...duh, but it is amazing how some breeds are just nicer than others. As you might recall we bought 25 chickens of various breeds and then bought 10 newborn pullets and after watching them for awhile some breeds have unique personality traits. I've read about this over and over and that is why some

Relaxation and the Circle of Life

2007-02-25T23:25:00.000-06:00

An interesting activity transpired today that I don't usually do, I spent almost an hour out of my day relaxing. My beautiful wife also joined me part of the time to just hang out and talk. This is one of those things that you can do in the city as well but for some reason it just seems easier with less distractions out here.We sat and watched the chickens go about their daily business of being

Try Before You Buy

2007-02-25T07:15:00.000-06:00

This post was an idea that my wife threw at me for the blog and I thought it was a great idea. In case you haven't read the welcome message it briefly discusses that we're renting in different areas before buying. In an urban environment when people move many look for houses in the new city they're looking at moving to. They find one they like in a decent area and buy it. Aside from the recent

Small Town Drivers

2007-02-24T15:15:00.000-06:00

One of the unexpected things that didn't hit me right away was how much nicer most people drive in small towns. Granted in the large city just a few bad drivers can seem like there are many more out there. In the 7 months we've been outside of a major city and just outside of smaller cities (5K+ people) we've noticed there are a lot of courteous drivers.Usually people will stop to let you in and

Pullets Heating Issue

2007-02-23T22:36:00.000-06:00

Well it appears that we've got our pullet heating situation closer to being resolved. The temperature has settled in the 90-92 degree range and they seem to be under the light some times but more importantly they seem to be laying down and spreading their feathers out and taking longer naps. We'll see what tomorrow holds but for now here are a few good pointers to keep in mind on figuring out if

Basic Poultry Vocabulary

2007-02-23T18:01:00.000-06:00

As we learn more about poultry we keep this link updated to teach people basic vocabulary and get started in their poultry endevours.Poultry: Poultry is the class of domesticated fowl (birds) used for food or for their eggs. These most typically are members of the orders Galliformes (such as chickens and turkeys), and Anseriformes (waterfowl such as ducks and geese). source: WikipediaRooster: the

Processing Chickens

2007-02-23T14:03:00.000-06:00

It appears ~10 of our roosters are ready to be "processed" which is just another word for slaughter or butchering but I've found a place that will do it about 45 minutes from here. They charge $2.25/bird which is a little high from the research I've done but not too bad. There is an additional charge if they are over 4 lbs once processed but I doubt any meet that criteria. So I gathered up 9

Buying Pullets (Baby Female Chickens)

2007-02-23T12:50:00.000-06:00

We decided that we wanted to up our hen population and there is no time like the present to get started. So we picked up 10 pullets of differing breeds at Callahan's General Store in Austin while we were doing our usual Sam's Club bulk purchasing. Our oldest daughter has been tasked with learning everything she can about the birds and so we picked out 4 breeds we thought would be a good starting

Buying Roosters and Hens

2007-02-23T11:38:00.000-06:00

We're trying to catch up this new blog with where our life is at currently so forgive the rush of information and we'll work better and keeping it in proper chronological order in the future.Approx. two weeks ago we took delivery of 25 chickens that were born in early November 2006, so they were approx. 4 months old. The thing we realized (and I don't think the people who sold them to use

Welcome

2007-02-23T11:18:00.000-06:00

First we would like to welcome everyone that is on the wonderful place we call the world wide web. Our intent with this blog is to cover our transition from city living to rural/country living. We will address everything we think is relevant like searching for land, getting and raising animals, impact to quality of life for family. Our plan is to skip the misleading, "life is easy" type tutorials